Magic Resilient

by Kayla Bashe

  It’s fun to get together with new friends and discover new uses for your powers…and, of course, it’s fun to cheat at board games.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  At home, you could never keep your nails painted for more than a day, because the salty breezes would always ruin it. Here, though, a coat or two of polish can stay on for as long as a week! Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

  With that in mind, you decide to have a spa-themed party.

  Char paints Shani’s nails with a funky geometric design that she swears is straight off the runway.

  One girl brings tea for everyone and lets you use her good porcelain cups. Another shows up with lemon cookies—hurrah, cookies!

  Even Malou gets into the act, letting Pocketwatch, a second-year student, paint her nails with a clear polish that has just a hint of sparkle.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  There’s an entire wardrobe of pretty dancing frocks. The magic infused in the fabric allows them to shrink or grow to fit whoever wears them.

  Pastel pink ballet slippers—and sleek black ones—fit your feet perfectly. Then there’s maroon, crimson, mermaid blue-turquoise…

  After dallying over the pretty outfits, you make your decisions just in time, hurry to get changed, and rush off to Basic Contemporary Dance.

  You learn a routine set to a song about walking in a spring forest. The vibrantly layered handclaps and rhythmic windchimes speak to something deep inside of you, making the music super-easy to follow. Seeing your smiling face in the mirror, you realize that the most important thing isn’t being the best dancer in the class—it’s having fun.

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  After lunch, you go to your first magic training class

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  You learn how to make citrus-cream cupcakes topped with summer berries and mint leaves, and then you decorate another batch of plain vanilla cupcakes with frosting in every color. Bright colors, neon colors, pastels, even black and white. And the best part? You get to eat your creations. Tres awesome.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  The ice-skating rink is built in a former barn on the outskirts of Academe territory—a short walk, maybe fifteen minutes through trees and over fallen sticks and branches and wildflowers that sprout up in between last fall’s dead leaves. Zipping your coat up, you glance at your friends. “Does anyone know how to skate?”

  Malou, eyeing the rink as if it could rise up and attack her at any moment, shakes her head.

  Char makes a noncommittal gesture and chuckles. “I can balance when the camera’s on me—as long as I don’t have to move!”

  Shani hugs herself. “I used to be able to skate a few strokes, but it hasn’t gotten cold enough for the lake to freeze over in years.”

  So you manage together, holding onto each other and the side of the rink, moving slow and wobbly and with the utmost care, constantly one slip away from ending up in a big pile of giggling girls, breathless from laughter and the sudden cold of ice in contact with stocking-clad legs.

  That happens a lot.

  But by your third circle of the rink, you’ve managed to stay (mostly) upright, except for the time Char’s long legs tangle under her and Malou has to set her back on her feet again—and by the end of class, you’re not even holding onto the wall anymore. You’re exhilarated, breathing hard, and you and your squadmates exchange hugs of congratulation on being able to wobble by yourselves. And when you finally step from the rink—by Maona’s roses, it feels so good to get out of those tight-laced skates!

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  The next day is your first breakfast at the academy. There’s so much food you’ve never seen before, so you’re the last to arrive at the table where your squadmates are sitting. Shani licks the frosting from breakfast cupcakes; Malou, an intense expression on her face, eats a croissant with a knife and fork. Charmaine’s eating fish eggs on toast and a few tiny cucumber sandwiches on dark bread.

  “Hey, why don’t we go to an activity as a group?” Char suggests.

  “Let’s let Verdie pick,” Shani adds. “She’s as fair as anything.”

  You acknowledge her compliment with a smile, then wrinkle your nose in thought. “We could…”

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  Take a dance class

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  Decorate cupcakes

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  Go ice skating

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  The next day is your first breakfast at the academy. There’s so much food you’ve never seen before, so you’re the last to arrive at the table where your squadmates are sitting. Shani licks the frosting from breakfast cupcakes; Malou, an intense expression on her face, eats a croissant with a knife and fork. Charmaine’s eating fish eggs on toast and a few tiny cucumber sandwiches on dark bread.

  “Hey, why don’t we go to an activity as a group?” Char suggests.

  “Let’s let Verdie pick,” Shani adds. “She’s as fair as anything.”

  You acknowledge her compliment with a smile, then wrinkle your nose in thought. “We could…”

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  Take a dance class

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  Decorate cupcakes

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  Go ice skating

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  Please turn back a page

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  The next day, you wake up bright and early—it’s time for magical girl training! A notice on the bulletin board in the gymnasium tells first-semester students to go outside. When you do, you see that a little two-story house has been constructed on the large soccer field.

  “This is an assessment to see where you are with your combat skills so we can see what everyone’s strengths are and where people need help. This house is filled with pretend fire. If you touch it, it won’t hurt, but it’ll turn your skin bright green. If too much of your body becomes green, then it’s as if you’ve been burnt, and you’ll have to go sit on the bleachers and get cleaned off.

  “In one of the rooms, there’s a woman who’s been overcome by the quote-unquote smoke—her location will be different for every student. Your assignment is to rescue her and get past the monsters in the house. That’s rig
ht, you won’t just have the fake fire to contend with! Some of the older students have volunteered for this exercise. They’re dressed up in body armor that makes them look like monsters, and they’ll try to grab you and take you back to the front door. How you evade or escape them will say a lot about the techniques and strategies you’ve arrived here with.

  Be aware that you’re fighting other magical girls. Your attacks won’t hurt them, so you’re going to have to be creative. Good luck!"

  Shani uses her lake powers to put out the pretend fire, then drenches the older girls and escapes while they’re trying to untangle themselves from lily vines.

  Char, seeing a pot filled with water in the sink, flash-boils it, creating a huge cloud of smoke to cover her escape from the kitchen.

  When Malou enters the house, illusory fire is coming up through the floorboards; undaunted, she uses the knobs and handles of cabinets as handholds and footholds, clings to a chandelier, and walks atop the slender ledge provided by wainscotting, all the while constructing magical barriers to keep attackers away from her.

  A magical girl with one leg activates the hidden hover-rocket in her pastel floral-print prosthetic and zooms over everyone’s heads.

  Some girls, though, don’t make it on their first try.

  One girl stumbles over her own feet and faceplants into the fake flames; another, not looking where she’s going, steps on a squeaky dog toy and slides down a staircase.

  A girl dashes through a door and locks it behind her without first glancing at what room she’s entered; trapped in the house’s smallest bathroom, she’s forced to wait huffily until the older girls figure out how to break the door down.

  You’ve learned a lot from analyzing others’ efforts, and your strategy will be to…

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  Fly above your pursuers

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  Do some reconnaissance before heading in

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  There’s an entire wardrobe of pretty dancing frocks. The magic infused in the fabric allows them to shrink or grow to fit whoever wears them.

  Pastel pink ballet slippers—and sleek black ones—fit your feet perfectly. Then there’s maroon, crimson, mermaid blue-turquoise…

  After dallying over the pretty outfits, you make your decisions just in time, hurry to get changed, and rush off to Basic Contemporary Dance.

  You learn a routine set to a song about walking in a spring forest. The vibrantly layered handclaps and rhythmic windchimes speak to something deep inside of you, making the music super-easy to follow. Seeing your smiling face in the mirror, you realize that the most important thing isn’t being the best dancer in the class—it’s having fun.

  * * *

  After lunch, you go to your first magic training class

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  You learn how to make citrus-cream cupcakes topped with summer berries and mint leaves, and then you decorate another batch of plain vanilla cupcakes with frosting in every color. Bright colors, neon colors, pastels, even black and white. And the best part? You get to eat your creations. Tres awesome.

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  >>

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  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  The ice-skating rink is built in a former barn on the outskirts of Academe territory—a short walk, maybe fifteen minutes through trees and over fallen sticks and branches and wildflowers that sprout up in between last fall’s dead leaves. Zipping your coat up, you glance at your friends. “Does anyone know how to skate?”

  Malou, eyeing the rink as if it could rise up and attack her at any moment, shakes her head.

  Char makes a noncommittal gesture and chuckles. “I can balance when the camera’s on me—as long as I don’t have to move!”

  Shani hugs herself. “I used to be able to skate a few strokes, but it hasn’t gotten cold enough for the lake to freeze over in years.”

  So you manage together, holding onto each other and the side of the rink, moving slow and wobbly and with the utmost care, constantly one slip away from ending up in a big pile of giggling girls, breathless from laughter and the sudden cold of ice in contact with stocking-clad legs.

  That happens a lot.

  But by your third circle of the rink, you’ve managed to stay (mostly) upright, except for the time Char’s long legs tangle under her and Malou has to set her back on her feet again—and by the end of class, you’re not even holding onto the wall anymore. You’re exhilarated, breathing hard, and you and your squadmates exchange hugs of congratulation on being able to wobble by yourselves. And when you finally step from the rink—by Maona’s roses, it feels so good to get out of those tight-laced skates!

  * * *

  >>

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  There’s an entire wardrobe of pretty dancing frocks. The magic infused in the fabric allows them to shrink or grow to fit whoever wears them.

  Pastel pink ballet slippers—and sleek black ones—fit your feet perfectly. Then there’s maroon, crimson, mermaid blue-turquoise…

  After dallying over the pretty outfits, you make your decisions just in time, hurry to get changed, and rush off to Basic Contemporary Dance.

  You learn a routine set to a song about walking in a spring forest. The vibrantly layered handclaps and rhythmic windchimes speak to something deep inside of you, making the music super-easy to follow. Seeing your smiling face in the mirror, you realize that the most important thing isn’t being the best dancer in the class—it’s having fun.

  * * *

  After lunch, you go to your first magic training class

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  You learn how to make citrus-cream cupcakes topped with summer berries and mint leaves, and then you decorate another batch of plain vanilla cupcakes with frosting in every color. Bright colors, neon colors, pastels, even black and white. And the best part? You get to eat your creations. Tres awesome.